Word For Today: Christmas Mystery

Read: 1 Timothy 3:14-16 

The mystery from which true godliness springs is great. 1 Timothy 3:16

As Charles Dickens’ story A Christmas Carol begins, there is mystery surrounding Ebenezer Scrooge. Why is he so mean-spirited? How did he become so selfish? Then, slowly, as the Christmas spirits marched Scrooge through his own story, things become clearer. We see the influences that changed him from a happy youth into a selfish miser. We observe his isolation and his brokenness. As the mystery is solved, we also glimpse the path to restoration. Concern for others pulls Scrooge from his self-absorbed darkness into a new joy.

A far more important mystery, and one much harder to explain, is that which Paul spoke of in 1 Timothy 3:16: “Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.” Extraordinary! God “appeared in the flesh.”

The mystery of Christmas is how God could become man while remaining fully God. It defies human explanation, but in the perfect wisdom of God, it was the plan of the ages.
“What child is this?” He is Jesus Christ—God revealed in the flesh.
This, this is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing

God made His home with us so that we might make our home with Him.

INSIGHT:

The mystery of Christmas is that Jesus came to us as God in the flesh. Those who believe in Him are called the body of Christ, the church. Paul uses various metaphors to describe it. In 1 Timothy 3:15 he refers to the church as “God’s household.” He is saying that God is our Father, Christ is our brother (Heb. 2:11-12), and we are God’s children (John 1:12; Gal. 3:26). Because our Father is the God of truth (John 3:33), because Jesus is the truth (14:6), and because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth (15:26), the church is “the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15).

Bible in a Year: Habakkuk 1–3; Revelation 15

By Bill Crowder

Word For Today: One Size Fits All

Read: John 3:10-21 

Whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Like most children, I thoroughly enjoyed Christmas. With great anticipation, I would snoop under the tree to see what toys and games awaited my eager grasp. So I felt deflated when I started getting things like shirts and pants. Grownup gifts were no fun! Then last Christmas, my kids gave me some cool socks with bright colors and designs. I almost felt young again! Even grownups could wear these socks, as the label reassured me: “One size fits all.”

Word For Today: The Drummer Boy

Read: Luke 21:1-4 

She out of her poverty put in all she had to live on. Luke 21:4

“The Little Drummer Boy” is a popular Christmas song written in 1941. It was originally known as “Carol of the Drum” and is based on a traditional Czech carol. Although there isn’t any reference to a drummer boy in the Christmas story in Matthew 1–2 and Luke 2, the point of the carol goes straight to the heart of the meaning of worship. The carol describes how a boy is summoned by the Magi to the scene of Christ’s birth. Unlike the wise men, however, the drummer has no gift—so he gives what he has. He plays his drum, saying, “I played my best for Him.”

Word For Today: Amazing Love

Read: John 6:32-40

I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. John 6:38

Approaching the first Christmas after her husband died, our friend Davidene wrote a remarkable letter in which she pictured what it might have been like in heaven when Jesus was born on earth. “It was what God always knew would happen,” she wrote. “The three were one, and He had agreed to allow the fracturing of His precious unity for our sake. Heaven was left empty of God the Son.”

Word For Today: Pax Romana

Read: Isaiah 9:1-7 

To us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. Isaiah 9:6

No one can afford the price of war. One website reports 64 nations are currently involved in armed conflicts. When and how will they end? We want peace, but not at the expense of justice.

Jesus was born during a time of “peace,” but it came at the cost of heavy-handed oppression. The Pax Romana (“Roman Peace”) existed only because Rome squashed all dissent.

Word For Today: The Seventh Stanza

Read: Luke 2:8-14

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. Luke 2:11

In the summer of 1861, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s wife, Frances, died tragically in a fire. That first Christmas without her, he wrote in his diary, “How inexpressibly sad are the holidays.” The next year was no better, as he recorded, “ ‘A merry Christmas,’ say the children, but that is no more for me.”

In 1863, as the American Civil War was dragging on, Longfellow’s son joined the army against his father’s wishes and was critically injured. On Christmas Day that year, as church bells announced the arrival of another painful Christmas, Longfellow picked up his pen and began to write, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.”

Word For Today: Reaching Out in the Darkness

Read: Psalm 139:7-12

The night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. Psalm 139:12

Our old dog—a West Highland white terrier—sleeps curled up at the foot of our bed. That’s been her place for 13 years.

Normally she doesn’t move or make a sound, but lately she’s been pawing us gently in the middle of the night. At first we thought she wanted to go outside, so we tried to accommodate her. But we realized she just wants to know we are there. She’s nearly deaf and partially blind now. She can’t see in the darkness and can’t hear us move or breathe. Naturally, she gets confused and reaches out for reassurance. So I just reach down and pat her on the head to assure her that I’m there. That’s all she wants to know. She takes a turn or two, settles down, and goes back to sleep.

Word For Today: Christmas Rest

Read: Matthew 11:28–12:8

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened. Matthew 11:28

As a boy I delivered newspapers in order to earn money. Since it was a morning newspaper, I was required to get up at 3:00 every morning, 7 days a week, in order to have all 140 of my papers delivered to their appropriate homes by 6:00 a.m.

But one day each year was different. We would deliver the Christmas morning newspaper on Christmas Eve—meaning that Christmas was the only morning of the year I could sleep in and rest like a normal person.

Word For Today: Holy Is Your Name

Read: Exodus 20:1-7

You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. Exodus 20:7

One afternoon I was having a discussion with a friend I considered my spiritual mentor about misusing God’s name. “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God,” says the third commandment (Ex. 20:7). We may think this only refers to attaching God’s name to a swear word or using His name flippantly or irreverently. But my mentor rarely missed an opportunity to teach me about real faith. He challenged me to think about other ways we profane God’s name.

Word For Today: The Importance of How

Read: Numbers 4:17-32 

Assign to each man his work and what he is to carry. Numbers 4:19

While attending Bible college, my friend Charlie and I worked for a furniture store. We often made deliveries accompanied by an interior decorator who talked with the people who had purchased the furniture while we brought it from the truck into the house. Sometimes we had to carry the furniture up several flights of stairs in an apartment building. Charlie and I often wished we had the decorator’s job instead of ours!

Word For Today: A Hunger for God

Read: Deuteronomy 4:9-14 

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16

A-poe-la-pi is an elderly member of the Akha, a hill tribe people who live on the mountain ranges of Yunnan Province in China. As we visited him on a recent missions trip, A-poe-la-pi told us that he had missed the weekly Bible study because of heavy rains. So he implored us, “Could you share God’s Word with me?”

In Deuteronomy 4, Moses urged the Israelites to listen carefully to the rules and regulations he was teaching them (v. 1). He reminded them that the source and inspiration behind the teaching was none other than God Himself, who had spoken to them “out of the fire” of Sinai (v. 12). Moses said, “He declared to you his covenant . . . which he commanded you to follow” (v. 13).

May A-poe-la-pi’s hunger to hear God’s Word encourage a similar desire in us. As the apostle Paul reminds us in 2 Timothy 3:15-16, the inspired Scriptures have been given for our good and growth—to make us wise in the salvation and ways of God.

Lord, give us a hunger to hear and understand the truth of Your Word. Help us show Your love to others by faithfully living out its instructions for us.

To know Christ, the Living Word, is to love the Bible, the written Word.

INSIGHT:

Verses 11-12 of today’s passage refer to one of the most critical events in Israel’s history—the giving of the law at Mount Sinai. After the Israelites left Egypt, where they had been enslaved for over 400 years and then rescued by God’s intervention, they were led by Moses through the Red Sea and made their way to Mount Sinai. There the people met the God who had rescued them, and His power was displayed in remarkable ways (Ex. 19:16-19). This meeting between God and His chosen people was the first step in turning this large extended family (the twelve tribes of Israel) into a nation with laws—also provided by their rescuing God.

Bible in a Year: Hosea 9–11; Revelation 3

By Poh Fang Chia

Word For Today: The Birth of Christmas

Read: Luke 1:26-38 

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. Matthew 1:24

When the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and then to shepherds with good news for the world (Luke 1:26-27; 2:10), was it good news to this teenage girl? Perhaps Mary was thinking: How do I explain my pregnancy to my family? Will my fiancé Joseph call off the betrothal? What will the townspeople say? Even if my life is spared, how will I survive as a mother all alone?

When Joseph learned about Mary’s pregnancy, he was troubled. He had three options. Go ahead with the marriage, divorce her publicly and allow her to be publicly scorned, or break off the engagement quietly. Joseph chose option three, but God intervened. He told Joseph in a dream, “Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 1:20).

God's love fills our hearts when we walk with him.

For Mary and Joseph, Christmas began with submitting themselves to God in spite of the unthinkable emotional challenges before them. They entrusted themselves to God and in doing so demonstrated for us the promise of 1 John 2:5: “If anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them.”

May God’s love fill our hearts this Christmas season—and every day—as we walk with Him.

Fill my heart, Lord, with rejoicing at the gift of Your love and forgiveness found in Your Son Jesus.

Obedience to God flows freely from a heart of love.

INSIGHT:

The announcement that Mary would become pregnant and give birth to the Messiah is nestled in the middle of another pregnancy story—that of Zacharias and Elizabeth, relatives of Mary. This too was a miraculous pregnancy, as the couple was old and had never been able to have children. Their child, who would be John the Baptist, would preach repentance and prepare the way for the Messiah.

Bible in a Year: Daniel 3–4; 1 John 5

By Albert Lee

Word For Today: What Christmas Is All About

Read: Luke 2:8-14

There were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. Luke 2:8

Fifty years ago A Charlie Brown Christmas was first broadcast on American television. Some network executives thought it would be ignored, while others worried that quoting the Bible would offend viewers. Some wanted its creator, Charles Schulz, to omit the Christmas story, but Schulz insisted it stay in. The program was an immediate success and has been rebroadcast every year since 1965.

When Charlie Brown, the frustrated director of the children’s Christmas play, is discouraged by the commercial spirit of the holiday season, he asks if anyone can tell him the real meaning of Christmas. Linus recites Luke 2:8-14 including the words, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (vv. 11-14 kjv). Then Linus says, “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”

During this season filled with our own doubts and dreams, it’s good to ponder afresh God’s great love expressed in the familiar story of Joseph, Mary, the baby Jesus, and the angels who announced the Savior’s birth.

That’s what Christmas is all about.

Father in heaven, as we approach Christmas, may we grasp in a deeper way Your amazing gift to us.

God broke into human history to offer us the gift of salvation!

INSIGHT:

Two angels are named in the Bible: archangels Michael (Dan. 10:13; Jude 9; Rev. 12:7) and Gabriel (Dan. 8:16; 9:21; Luke 1:19, 26). Angels appeared a number of times in connection with Christ's birth. Gabriel appeared to Zacharias (Luke 1:11–20) and then to Mary, announcing that she would become the mother of the Messiah (v. 26). An unnamed angel, which most scholars believe was Gabriel, appeared three times in dreams to Joseph (Matt. 1:20; 2:13, 19). Gabriel also announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds and, joined by a "multitude of the heavenly host," declared glory to God (2:8–14).

Bible in a Year: Daniel 1–2; 1 John 4

By David McCasland 

Word For Today: When Not to Rejoice

Read: Ezekiel 25:1-7; Matthew 5:43-48 

Do not gloat when your enemy falls. Proverbs 24:17

The Akan people of Ghana have a proverb: “The lizard is not as mad with the boys who threw stones at it as with the boys who stood by and rejoiced over its fate!” Rejoicing at someone’s downfall is like participating in the cause of that downfall or even wishing more evil on the person.